Illness perception and coping among women living with breast cancer in Ghana: an exploratory qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Illness perception has been shown to have significant influence on the well-being and coping strategies of persons living with chronic medical conditions. Understanding of how women living with breast cancer cognitively and emotionally represent their illness and coping strategies used is likely to help in designing focused psychosocial interventions aimed at improving their health and well-being. This study explored the illness perceptions and coping strategies among women receiving care for breast cancer.

Design

A qualitative phenomenological study (using semi-structured in-depth interviews).

Setting

Oncology department of a tertiary hospital in Ghana.

Participants

Eleven women receiving breast cancer treatment were purposively sampled and in-depth

SUBMITTER: Kugbey N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7365420 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature